Category Archives: Engagements

Santa Cruz Engagement Session | Brooke and William

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It was a beautiful day for an engagement session as we headed down highway 17 to Santa Cruz.  Spending time with my couples ahead of time is always a highlight and I love getting the quality time with them.  Brooke and William were no exception. Tia and I had a wonderful time creating their photos and getting to know them better. Being from Michigan I had to really consider working with William since he is an Ohio State fan, but I sucked it up and was glad I did. :) .  In all seriousness though I loved learning more about them, how they met, and what they wanted for their wedding. I love how they interact with each other and for me some of my favorite photos are just simply the pure happiness they are radiating in some of their photos. If you love some of their photos make sure you leave them some love below.  Tell us and them which ones is your favorites.  I know they would love to see that you stopped by.

Intersecting Lives Finally Connecting | Engagement session with Ellen and Fernando

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These two walked in to my office and it was an instant connection. I had so much fun learning about their wedding plans, their families, favorite t.v. shows, and of course their love story.  I love finding out how people meet.  Their story starts at elementary school.  They both attended the same school and Fernando was a year ahead of Ellen. They never talked to each other even though he remembered her, she didn’t remember him.

He moved away and it wasn’t for years til he graduated from high school did their lives intersect again.  This time they actually did a “Hi” face to face but nothing really went from there except an occasional my space connecection.  As time went by, Ellen took a film class in college where she reconnected with a friend from middle school.  This person told her I have a guy friend you should hang out with, you guys would get along great.  You guessed it, it was Fernando.  After returning to California from New York and a couple of messages via my space they started hanging out.  What I love about this part of the story (must be my romantic side) is that they didn’t start out dating.  They really started a friendship.  Fernando would get off work late and the two of them would talk in to the wee hours of the morning.  Ellen shared they would star gaze for hours and just talk.  Eventually, it was a smooth transition and they just became a couple. It reminds me of the old saying two ships in the night but they finally connected. In fact, they don’t even remember an official day when they became a couple it just kind of happened.

Well after spending the day with them, photographing them, and learning more about these two people who are truly opposites, they just compliment each other.  They just have a real natural ease with each other and I’m looking forward to photographing their wedding and documenting just another chapter in their story. The last couple of photos were taken at the school where their lives first intertwined and I believe where the journey all started.  If you love their photos or their story leave them a little love below to let them know you stopped by. I’m sure they can’t wait to hear from you.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

New Wedding, Engagement, and Boudoir site is live| Leap Year Tradition

Posted in Boudoir "Girly" Sessions, Engagements, Personal, press, Uncategorized, Weddings | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on

Well this is the year people! A year when you get that extra day to catch up on something.  You get an extra 24 hours that you don’t normally have. I’d love to know what your going to do with your extra time.  What is leap day and why do we have it?  The geeky version of why we have leap year is so that the Gregorian Calender ( that most of the world uses) lines up properly with the earth’s rotation around the sun.  The more fun and romantic version is that women can propose to men.  Myths are that if a woman proposed to a man on Leap day he couldn’t say no.  It was a way for a woman to take control of her own love life and to help along those men who were sitting on the pot a little too long if you know what I mean.  This was a tradition that was pretty rampant until the 1960′s and free love took control of the world.

Well for me no matter why I’m thankful for the extra day. Here at Jill Johnson photography it is a very exciting Leap Day because we are launching the beginning of our new sites. Yes sites, you heard me correctly.  We will be launching our new wedding, engagement, and boudoir site today which can be found at www.jilljohnsonweddings.com.  Hopefully in the next week or two our new site www.jilljohnsonkids.com will be completed as well. (It is currently live as well as a teaser but is still under construction).  On top of all that our blog has been experiencing a new overhaul and will shine in it’s full glory with all it’s bells and whistles.  It has been very exciting and busy around here as we worked on creating a new  interactive and user friendly site.

Now is all of it complete?  No, but honestly, when is a site ever completed?  It is like a woman’s wardrobe constantly changing and evolving.  But I would love to point out some of the things about these new sites.  First of all you can still find all of my work at www.jillljohnsonphotography.com.  Here you’ll find a landing page that can direct you to the site you are most interested in.   It will also give you a sneak peak of some of our most recent gossip, news, and photos on the blog preview strip, and last but not least special flower buttons for you to share what you found with your friends, families, and social medias. Keep checking back because we are still adding more things to all of these sites as they evolve but for now we felt it was a great teaser.

The blog and the kid/creative portrait site will also have some of these great features as well as some other little tidbits that we’ll share when they are closer to completion.

Most of all I would love to thank all the people who have helped me put this all together.  It would have been released on the next leap year if not for their amazing help.  Pamela Francisco of Pamela Francisco Illustration, Eric at Big Folio, Ken Leslie (blog builder extraordinaire),Luke Goodman for the films, Andy Mark, and of course all my fellow photo peeps for their support and suggestions.

I hope you enjoy looking over the new look and I would love to hear what you think!  Stuff you love! Stuff you would still like to see! Suggestions will be taken in to consideration :) .  I love what I do and I”m so excited to be sharing just a little bit about my world.

 

Our New Location | There’s a new photographer in town

Posted in Boudoir "Girly" Sessions, Engagements, Family, Personal, press, Vendors, Weddings on

We are so exited to be sharing this with all of you.  We have finally found a new place to call home (well at least our photo home).  It is located in downtown Campbell on a block I swear is the littlest western town in the west.  The charm of this old saloon just screamed fun at me and I couldn’t resist the gracious offer given to me by Deanna Graham to share her photography haven.  I just thought I would give you a sneak peak. I’ve hardly moved in but I have a couple of prints up and a key. You have to start somewhere right?  Many new things are in store for this wonderful space and who knows what it will resemble in the next month or two.  I am above thrilled on this new adventure and can’t wait to open it’s doors and welcome you in.  In fact, I hope you’ll be able to belly up to the bar for a Sarsaparillo and a good chat soon.  I’ll keep you posted so stay tuned for updates.

Our new address is 145 Dillon #A in Campbell, CA

*disclaimer dancing girls, card games, and shoot outs will cost extra :)

 

Engagement Photography Session| Fawn and Greg’s California small town adventure

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We had a beautiful day as we headed to a small almost deserted town outside of Sacramento. It was the cutest little China town I think I’ve ever seen. It was really close to walking back in time.  Now it is home to a famous bar (wish I would of paid attention to the name) a few stores, and random living quarters for artist and more.  Along the way we stopped at a corn processing plant to do wardrobe and make up and really fascinated the guy who owned the place.  He was blown away by the hair, make-up, and effort that went in to a shoot.  But he was so sweet to let us use the shade that his place provided.  It was a very calm and relaxing atmosphere and where we learned the difference between feeder corn and human corn ;) .

Fawn and Greg were great and had such a great attitude towards their session.  There positive energy made working with them so much fun and I can’t wait to shoot their wedding in November.  We had a special little guest affectionately called “Beast” participate in their shoot. The whole 2 pounds of her kept us on our toes all day long.  She was too cute for words.  Thanks to the fabulous styling and wardrobe by Tia Reagan that helped pull this shoot together, and to Fawn and Greg who were willing to have fun!  Enjoy looking at their photos and don’t forget to give them a shout out below so they know you’ve visited.